Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which comes out next week for the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5, once again puts players in the shoes of the friendliest neighbourhood hero. But unlike the terrific 2018 game that laid the groundwork, there’s a different man behind the mask. If you couldn’t tell, it’s Miles Morales, and he has a few tricks up his sleeve that set him apart from the previous game’s lead, Peter Parker.
The fundamentals — punch, jump, web, swing, and punch again, plus a dropkick every now and then — are the same. If you played the first game, you’ll pick this one up in seconds. But there’s enough fresh stuff in Miles’ toolkit that your second romp through Manhattan won’t feel like retreading new ground.
For one thing, like Peter, Miles has a suite of gadgets at his disposal. But Miles’ are different, and include a portable gravity well (solve that, Laplace) and a remote-controlled stun mine. He also has some inherent superpowers Peter could only dream of, including camouflage and a cadre of literally shocking “Venom” abilities. Those who saw the Oscar-winning animated film Into the Spider-Verse probably have a good idea of what to expect. (Yes, that movie makes a cameo in the game as well.)
And this is all to say nothing of the fact that Miles could destroy Peter in a game of aerial S.K.A.T.E. In the first game, Peter could flip and spin in the cardinal directions. Miles, meanwhile, has a bag of more than 20 moves that would even make Tony Hawk (Mr. 900 himself) dizzy. We detail all of some of those — plus some combat tricks — in the video above. And if you’re interested in a deeper assessment of the game, don’t miss Mike Sholars’ review for Kotaku.
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